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By Paul Keane
Tom O'Meara counts the Astoria neighbourhood in Queens as home these days, about 5,000kms from where he grew up in rural north Tipperary.
New York has been good to him since he arrived in the US over two years ago and he has no plans to leave anytime soon.
"I love it out there and I do see myself staying for the foreseeable," said the Kiladangan man.
That's not to say that he's necessarily left any of his Irishness behind him. In fact, one of the first things he did after arriving in New York was to sign up for the local Tipperary club.
He captained them to New York championship success last year and helped the club to secure back-to-back titles this year.
"It's my base now for all my friends, socialising, everything," said O'Meara of the club. "Anyone who comes out, I encourage them straight away to get involved in the GAA. They've been so helpful to me here. I can't thank Tipperary New York enough for what they've done for me. And it's the same for everyone, whether it's a job or accommodation or if you're stuck for a few pound or whatever, they'll always dig lads out of a hole."
O'Meara is working in construction and three days a week makes the hour or so journey across to The Bronx for hurling training in Gaelic Park.
New York started back for the 2025 season in December and are reaping the benefits now of those long months of training.
The 31-strong playing panel, and coaching team, left the US on Wednesday of last week and jetted into Ireland on Thursday morning. They set up camp in Mullingar, ahead of last weekend's Lory Meagher Cup semi-final against Monaghan, and after winning that game by 1-29 to 2-13 started to plan for tomorrow's historic final against Cavan at Croke Park.
It's turned into a near two-week trip with the entourage set to shift to a new base in Stillorgan, south Dublin today.
O'Meara is joined in the group by some top talents. Johnny Glynn, an All-Ireland winning forward with Galway in 2017, is playing for New York having previously represented the footballers. Glynn is also New York GAA's vice-chairman. Another player, Cork man Sean O'Leary-Hayes, is a former senior hurler with the Rebels.
Daithi Hartnett, aged 7, son of New York manager Richie Hartnett celebrates with the cup after the 2024 Connacht Hurling League Cup final match between New York and Mayo at University of Galway Connacht GAA AirDome in Bekan, Mayo. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
By O'Meara's reckoning, there is just one native New Yorker in the playing group, James Breen.
The long-term ambition is to change that statistic and to have far more native hurlers pulling on the navy and white jersey.
"James is born and reared in The Bronx in New York, a great hurler," said O'Meara. "There's great underage systems out there now in fairness, bringing kids up along. We probably could have two more maybe playing with us but they opted to play football.
"There's an underage (hurling) team going back to compete in the Feile. They train before us sometimes in Redmond Park, another field we use. It's pretty high intensity and good training."
O'Meara is doing his bit to spread the hurling gospel around New York too. He often heads to Central Park with a hurl and a sliotar and a few pals, for a puck around. Pretty quickly, the inevitable questions arise.
"Every Tom, Dick and Harry is asking you, 'What's that?'" smiled O'Meara. "Sure I'm sick of telling them it's hurling. It's usually, 'What? Curling?' I say, 'No, not curling, hurling!' I've just resorted to, 'Ah, it's cricket' and they seem to walk away. You get a lot of that, and gawking stares."
The New York squad may return home as Lory Meagher Cup champions. They only entered the fifth tier of championship hurling this season but, after a shaky start against Monaghan, quickly found their stride and looked a slick and united group.
"It can be an advantage or a disadvantage," said O'Meara of being parachuted in at the semi-final stage. "For the first 10 minutes of the Monaghan game, we were sitting ducks. I don't think we scored at all. We hadn't played any competitive games. In New York, you can't organise any competitive match to the same standard. So there are positives and negatives to it."
O'Meara expects to have plenty of family at Croke Park tomorrow for the showpiece. He recalled being a fan at the venue himself 15 years ago, as a kid watching Tipp win the 2010 All-Ireland at Kilkenny's expense.
He wanted to hang around afterwards, to watch the team celebrate on the pitch, but his parents had to race off to rescue the car they'd parked up on some local highway or byway.
"They were like, 'Come on, we have to go', it was before the celebrations and I remember breaking down in tears," recalled O'Meara. "I wanted to stay to hear Pat Kerwick singing The Galtee Mountain Boy in the Hogan Stand. That's one of my earliest memories of Croke Park. To get to play there now on Saturday will be massive."
